Wednesday, December 22, 2010

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Social networking site Facebook has offered a package of Rs 38 lakh (USD 85,000) for IIT Madras students during the ongoing placement season, a top official of the institute said. Companies selecting prospective candidates from the country''s premier educational institute IIT Madras began on December 1. However, Facebook leads the chart with a package of Rs 38 lakh, IIT Madras Advisor (Training and Placement) N Ramesh Babu said. "Every year, the selection process commences in December and this time too it began on December 1," he said.Every year students eagerly await to participate in the campus selection and this year too more than 260 companies have registered so far, he said, adding, "But we expect it to cross 300 companies." Asked on the selection processes, he said the final round of interview would be done later."For example, Facebook after conducting all the rounds, will conduct another interview via Skype from the US and when a student gets selected he/she will be offered USD 85,000 package," Babu explained. He said around 1000 students from various streams including B Tech, MTech, MS, Doctoral programmes, MBA, have registered for placements this year and so far around 30 students have received offers from various multi-national companies including Goldman Sachs, IBM and Boston Consulting Group.Last year the highest package was offered by Tower Research Capital at Rs 28 lakh per annum and about 225 companies had visited the institute for selecting 700 candidates. This time, while the leading package was offered by Facebook, an oil company has offered to pay a package of Rs 28 lakh, he added.

Facebook offer 70 Lakh job to an IIT student:

Calcutta: In a new round of placement, the social networking giant Facebook has offered a package of 70-lakh per annum to a IIT-Kharagpur student. The offer which is a record in IIT Kharagpur's history, was made on the first day of placement to a student who gives his name as DKS, who does not want his full name to be revealed. He revealed that he has received a 'join-us' post from the website. He is to graduate from the school of computer science and engineering at IIT-Kharagpur in 2011. The offer is three times higher than last year's top offer from Barclays. This was made for an offshore placement, mostly in the U.S.Officials revealed that Facebook's offer letter includes a starting salary of $90,000, a relocation bonus of $10,000 and a one-time signing amount of $25,000, although many suggested that the entire offer translates to about Rs 1.7 crore.This high offer has created a buzz on the IIT campuses and the IIT students hope that this year's placement will be better than the previous two years which were affected by the global economic downturn. Interviews are being held in the IIT campuses across India. Facebook has already shortlisted 10 students from IIT-Madras. Close to 30 students were placed from IIT-B on Friday. Many companies like Transocean, Tower Research, Goldman Sachs, Bank of American, Deutsche Bank, Citibank and Capital One have made some important placements from the IIT campuses offering hefty pay packages.